Contact with multiple termination



INVENTOR.

BENJAMIN FOX 2 & Coflwn/ ATTORNEYS. 7

Nov. 19, 1968 B. FOX

CONTACT WITH MULTIPLE TERMINATION Filed March 23, 1966 United StatesPatent 3,412,369 CONTACT WITH MULTIPLE TERMINATION Benjamin Fox,Wyncote, Pa., assignor to Elco Corporation, Willow Grove, Pa., acorporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 23, 1966, Ser. No. 536,915 19 Claims.(Cl. 339-217) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An electrical contact has amultiple termination tail section comprised of a deformablelead-grasping means, and an elongated tail of noncircular cross-sectionextending from said grasping means. A lead of an outside circuit can beelectrically connected either to the grasping means, or to the elongatedtail of the contact.

At times it is desirable to secure two or three wires to the contact,and this is preferably accomplished through the use of automatic wirewrapping machinery. Thus, it is desirable to have a contact with a rigidsquare tail section for use with the automatic wrapping machinery.

In todays complex world of electronics, a connector arrangement mayrequire that some leads be crimped to certain of the terminals in aconnector block whereas other terminals must be automatically wirewrapped, depending upon the requirement of the circuitry. With thepresent invention, a single terminal will sufiice, since the terminal ofthe present invention permits both crimping or automatic wire wrappingor both.

Furthermore, with the present invention the crimping and automatic wirewrapping features are associated with a bifurcated contact which may bedirectly secured within an insulating casing.

The foregoing as well as other objects of the invention are achieved byproviding a contact including a head and tail portion wherein the tailportion comprises two grasping means and a backwardly extendingautomatic wire wrapping leg. Of the two grasping means one is adapted tobe crimped upon the conductive member of the lead of an outside circuitand the other is adapted to be crimped upon the entire lead of theoutside circuit including the insulation thereof.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this inventionwill be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood byreference to the following detailed description when considered inconnection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a contact embodying the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the contact of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken through a connector block showing thecontact of FIG. 1 having a lead of an outside circuit crimped thereto,with said contact being secured within a complementary chamber withinsaid insulating block.

Referring now in greater detail to the various figures of the drawingswherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts, a contactwith multiple termination embodying the present invention is generallyshown at in FIG. 1. Contact 10 basically comprises a bifurcated matingsection 12, body section 14 and tail section 16 with the features of thepresent invention.

The bifurcated mating section 12 is constructed in accordance withbifurcated contacts disclosed and claimed in United States Patent No.2,828,474. The entire contact 10 including mating section .12 isgenerally flat and is constructed of 0.012. inch spring-hard Phosphorbronze, copper or other suitable electrically conductive material havingthe necessary balance of resiliency and strength required herein.

3,412,369 Patented Nov. 19, 1968 The mating section 12 is bifurcated byvirtue of a slot 18 along the longitudinal center to provide a pair ofcontact legs 20 and 22 which are spaced from each other by virtue of theslot 18. The outer edges of the contact legs 20 and 22 are generallyparallel to each other until the points 24 are attained and then theouter edges of the legs 20 and 22 taper somewhat sharply toward eachother to the flattened tips 26. The contact legs then taper toward eachother and meet the inner edges 28 of the contact legs at the slot 18.

As shown in 'FIG. 2, the inner edges 28 are chamfered to presentsubstantially flat contact surfaces 30. In mating position, a contactwith a mating section similarly constructed will mate perpendicularlywith respect to the contact of FIG. 1 as described in United StatesPatent No. 2,828,474 and United States Patent No. 2,994,056 so that thechamfered surfaces of the mating sections are in engagement with eachother to provide a large area of electrical contact. The distancebetween the inner edges 28 of the contact legs is slightly less than thethickness of the contact so that when a complementary contact is engagedin slot 18, the contact legs 20 and 22 are slightly forced apart toengage the mating contact under tension. Such tension is considerablyenhanced by the provision of an enlarged opening 32 at the rearward endof the slot 18. Thus, the opening 32 provides a hinge action whichaffords making the slot .18 slightly narrower than would otherwise bepossible. As the two cooperating contacts are brought into matingrelation, their respective legs 20 and 22 are spread apart slightly byvirtue of the aforementioned hinge action to permit a smooth slidingaction between the respective pairs of contact legs while stillproviding adequate tension to ensure good electrical contact.

It is to be understood that other types of bifurcated mating sectionsmay be employed and that the mating sections may be male, female orother types known in the art so long as satisfactory mating can occurwhere the thickness of the mating section is at least 0.012. inch andthe material at that thickness will yield a satisfactory combination ofresiliency and strength in the tail section as will be describedhereinafter.

The body section 14 is formed between the mating section 12 and the tailsection 16, and generally constitutes a continuation of the matingsection 12. The body section 14 terminates adjacent rearward notches 34,and

' includes a locking lance 36 which is stamped from the body section 14.The locking lance 36 is basically a rearwardly extending tongue whichassists in holding the contact 10 in a locked position in insulatingcasing 38 as shown in FIG. 3. The locking lance 36 engages shoulder 40of insulating casing 38, and thereby prevents rearward withdrawal of theterminal from the insulating casing.

The body section 14 further includes a locking shoulder 42 which existsimmediately behind the notches 34. The locking shoulder extends somewhatdownwardly to the approximate level of the rear end of the locking lance36 as illustrated in FIG. 3. The locking shoulder 42 is positionedagainst the rear face of insulator shoulder 40 as shown in FIG. 3 toprevent further forward movement of the contact in the insulatingcasing. It is seen that when the contact 10 is inserted in rearwardopening 44 of insulating casing 38 that a point will be reached when thelocking lance 36 contacts the insulating shoulder 40.

The insulating casing 38 basically comprises a rear chamber 60, aforward chamber 62 and a narrow shoulder portion 40 interconnecting saidrear and forward chamber.

As the contact is thrust forwardly, the locking lance 36 rides over oris depressed upwardly until the rear edge of the locking lance 36 clearsthe insulating shoulder 40. At this time the locking lance 36 will snapto its original position. The locking shoulder 42 is so dimensioned thatwhen the locking lance 36 snaps to its original position, the lockingshoulder 42 will be positioned substantially against the rear face ofinsulating shoulder 40.

The tail section 16 generally comprises first grasping means 46, secondgrasping means 48 and rearwardly extending wire wrapping tail 50. Atrough 52 (FIG. 3) exists adjacent the second grasping means 48 in orderto accommodate insulated wire lead 54. However, it is the usual practiceto remove some of the insulation to bare conductors 56 of the wire 54,and this is the reason for the inward curving 58 of the contact surfacesadjacent trough 52 as shown in FIG. 3.

The first grasping means 46 includes a pair of rectangular wings, andthe second grasping means 48 includes a pair of triangular wings whichare crimped respectively about the wire lead 54 as shown in FIG. 3.

The wire wrapping tail 50 is generally constructed in accordance withTravis Patent No. 3,142,891 and extends rearwardly from the graspingmeans 48. The tail 50 must be sufiiciently rigid to withstand thepressures of automatic wire wrapping, and should have sharp corners toprovide biting edges that are necessary to the automatic wrappingprocess. The tail 50 preferably has a square cross-section of 0.045 inchon a side.

The contacts of the present invention are produced in accordance withprogressive die and coining techniques well known to the art. Thecontacts are assembled into insulating casings typified by the showingof FIG. 3, either by the contact manufacturer or by the user. Largenumbers of contacts of the present invention will be employed in complexconnector arrangements where it is necessary in some cases to secure buta single wire lead to a given contact, and the identical contact is usedin other cases where it is necessary to secure two or more wire leads toa different single contact.

Where single wire leads are to be secured to the contact, the crimpingwings of the present invention are employed. Where it is necessary tosecure two or more wires to the contact either simultaneously or atdifferent times, automatic wire wrapping machinery in conjunction withthe rigid tail 50 is utilized. The use of automatic techniques isnecessary when the wire leads are to be attached at different times sothat a crimping technique would be wholly unsatisfactory.

This is because it would be necessary to open up the crimped tail at alater time in order to insert a second wire lead and then to applypressure again to the crimping wings. This procedure would have to beagain repeated should it be necessary at yet a later time to secure athird lead to the contact. With automatic wire wrapping techniques it isa simple matter to secure three wire leads to the tail 50 at dilferenttimes.

It is therefore seen that with the present invention full freedom forback-panel wiring is obtained in a simple and economical manner. Thecontacts of the present invention overcome the previous problem ofhaving to utilize terminals of at least two constructions, with certainof the terminals having crimping means and certain other of theterminals having wire wrapping means.

With the present invention such great flexibility is obtained that at alater time additional leads can be applied to the tail 50 by wirewrapping techniques, or where the crimping wings remain unused, anadditional lead can be crimped to the terminal at a later time.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present inventionare possible in the light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, tobe understood that within the scope of the appended claims, theinvention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed as the invention is:

1. A connector member comprising an insulating casing including a rearchamber and a forward chamber interconnected by a narrow shoulderportion, a contact seated and locked in said chambers and shoulderportion,

said contact comprising a mating section and a tail section unitedthereto by a body section, said body section including a locking lance,said tail section including locking shoulders defined by pairs ofnotches and further including at least one grasping means adapted toprovide secure electrical and mechanical connection with a lead of anoutside circuit, and a relatively rigid elongated tail of squarecross-section and having sharp corners extending 'rearwardly from saidgrasping means, said contact having its mating section in said forwardchamber and its tail section partly in said rear chamber and saidshoulder portion being interposed between said locking lance and saidlocking shoulders, whereby a lead may be crimped to said contact throughthe compression of said grasping means, and whereby a plurality of leadsmay also be secured to said tail.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said mating section is bifurcated.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein first and second grasping means areprovided, said second grasping means being located rearwardly of saidfirst grasping means, said first grasping means being adapted to providesecure electrical and mechanical connection with an exposed lead of anoutside circuit, said second grasping means being adapted to providesecure mechanical connection with an insulated portion of said lead,said first and second grasping means being defined in part by a trough.

4. An electrical contact comprising: a mating section and an integraltail section, said tail section comprising at least one deformablelead-grasping means forming a part thereof for providing secureelectrical and mechanical connection with a lead of an outside circuit,and an elongated tail of non-circular cross-section extending from saidgrasping means, whereby a lead end portion extending generally parallelto said wire Wrap tail may be crimped to said contact throughcompression of said grasping means, and whereby leads may also besecured to said tail.

5. The electrical contact of claim 4 wherein said grasping means ispositioned between said mating section and said tail.

6. The electrical contact of claim 4 wherein said tail is comprised of arelatively rigid member of square crosssection with sharp corners.

7. The electrical contact of claim 6 wherein said grasping means ispositioned between said mating section and said tail and wherein saidsharp corners extend from said grasping means to substantially the endof said tail opposite said grasping means.

8. The electrical contact of claim 4 wherein first and second graspingmeans are provided, said first grasping means being positioned betweensaid mating section and said second grasping means, said first graspingmeans being adapted to provide secure electrical and mechanicalconnection with a lead of an outside circuit, said second grasping meansbeing adapted to provide secure mechanical connection with an insulatedportion of said lead.

9. The electrical contact of claim 8 wherein said first and secondgrasping means are positioned between said mating section and said tail.

10. The electrical contact of claim 8 wherein said tail is comprised ofa relatively rigid member of square crosssection with sharp corners.

11. The electrical contact of claim [0 wherein said first and secondgrasping means are positioned between said mating section and said tailand wherein said sharp corners extend from said grasping means tosubstantially the end of said tail opposite said grasping means.

12. The electrical contact of claim 4 wherein said mating section andsaid tail section are connected by a body section.

13. The combination of claim 5 wherein said mating section and saidgrasping means are connected by a body section.

14. The electrical contact of claim 12 wherein said tail is comprised ofa relatively rigid member of square crosssection with sharp corners.

15. The electrical contact of claim 14 wherein said grasping means ispositioned between said mating section and said tail and wherein saidsharp corners extend from said grasping means to substantially the endof said tail oppositesaid grasping means.

16. The electrical contact of claim 12 wherein first and second graspingmeans are provided, said first grasping means being positioned betweensaid mating section and said second grasping means, said first graspingmeans being adapted to provide secure electrical and mechanicalconnection with a lead of an outside circuit, said second grasping meansbeing adapted to provide secure mechanical connection with an insulatedportion of said lead.

17. The electrical contact of claim 16 wherein said first and secondgrasping means are positioned between said mating section and said tail.

18. The electrical contact of claim 16 wherein said tail is comprised ofa relatively rigid member of square cross section with sharp corners.

19. The electrical contact of claim 18 wherein said first and secondgrasping means are positioned between said mating section and said tailand wherein said sharp corners extend from said grasping means tosubstantially the end of said t-ail opposite said grasping means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,192,498 6/1965 Ruehlemann339217 3,248,686 4/1966 Ruehlemann 339-217 3,299,396 1/1967 Kinkaid339217 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

R. S. STROBEL, Assistant Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No.3,412,369 November 19, 1968 Benjamin Fox It is certified that errorappears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent arehereby corrected as shown below:

Column 4, line 35, "wire wrap" should read elongated Signed and sealedthis 10th day of March 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR.

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer

